The Ice Hotel
The Ice Hotel at Jukkasjärvi is the world’s original ice hotel, located on the River Torne close to Kiruna. The origins of the hotel date back to 1989 when an ice sculpture exhibition was being held. When there were no rooms remaining in the town, some visitors spent the night in the exhibition hall, and the concept of an ice hotel was born. Today there are about 80 bedrooms, of which about half are described as Art Rooms, which are decorated in elaborate styles by a number of different artists.
Every winter, ice blocks and snow are harvested from the Torne river and stored in a refrigerated production area ready for the construction of next year’s ice hotel. During the summer, the ice blocks are cut and the ice sculptures for the Art Rooms are prepared. When the temperature drops the following winter, construction of the hotel begins, ready for the hotel’s first guests in December. During the day, the hotel and all the bedrooms are open for visitors to wander around, but in the late evening the rooms are for guests only. The temperature inside the bedrooms hovers at about -5deg C, but guests are provided with sleeping bags and are advised to wear hat and gloves, so the whole sleeping experience is actually quite toasty – unless you have to go out for a call of nature during the middle of the night!
The entire hotel is constructed out of ice, even the chandeliers and reception area.
Ice Hotel Main Hall
Here you can see the ice block construction. Some of the blocks can weigh as much as 2 tonnes and have to be lifted into position by crane.
Ice Blocks
The 40 or so Art Rooms all follow a different theme. Here for example is a room with a mechanical theme.
Ice Hotel Bedroom
A number of the rooms also feature elaborate sculptures. One of the more interesting sculptures was a chess piece theme.
Snow Chess Men
Our own room was called A Night In The Forest, and featured trees with a pair of owls.
Our Bedroom – A Night In The Forest
At night, the grounds of the hotel are illuminated, and the entrance is lit with a eerie blue colour. Together with the reindeer skins on the doors, this helps emphasise the arctic feel.
Ice Hotel Entrance At Night
There is an Igloo Bar in the grounds of the hotel, and at night this is illuminated from inside with an ever varying shade of colours.
The Ice Bar
Aurora at the Ice Hotel
On the evening that we arrived at the Ice Hotel, we ate out at the Old Homestead restaurant – about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. On the way back we noticed that the clouds were clearing, so grabbed our cameras and sure enough caught a first sight of the Aurora. Not ideal conditions with the lights of the hotel and some cloud about, but it did mean that our main purpose of visiting Sweden had already been achieved.
Aurora Over The Ice Hotel
Around Jukkasjärvi
Guests only spend a single night in the ice hotel itself, then spend a second or third night in one of the small chalets in the hotel grounds, so the following day we transferred to our chalet for the remaining couple of nights.
Our Chalet at the Ice Hotel
Today we were due to go on a ski mobile excursion, but we had a short opportunity to take some pictures around the grounds of the hotel. The day was bright ans sunny, with a wonderful clear crispness to the air.
The Ice Hotel Grounds
In the afternoon, after our ski mobile tour we walked along the River Torne to the nearby village of Jukkasjarvi. In winter, the river Torne freezes over completely, and is quite safe to walk on, so it makes for a more interesting route between the hotel and the village, rather than following the main road. By 3pm, the sun was already setting.
On the River Torne
At the village there is a bulldozed track across the frozen river so that cars can avoid a few miles detour to the nearest bridge. This shows how thick the ice is in winter if it safely supports the weight of a car.
The Road Over The River Torne
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